Immune to Imuran?

[DarrylP_Ajax]

Has anyone basically had their bodys become used to Imuran (looking for a specific word, which is driving me nuts). I have been on Imuran for about a year now and i was wondering if its possible for my body to just become used to the suppresant? I figured it should take a couple years, but i am in debate right now whether or not my return of CD symtptoms after a year of relief is due to just a flare or maybe that i have become used to my 200mg/day and i need to up the dose? I am getting blood work done every week again now to get a better idea of where my body is taking me, which basically looks like the only thing changing is the steady rise in my WBC again. The thought of no longer being able to take Imuran scares me as it was working so great with no side effects.

 

[D Bergy]

I believe there are others who have become resistant to one Crohn's medication or another. The body is amazing in its ability to have its own way. Not always a good thing.

Dan Bergman

 

[Mazen]

Unfortunately with Crohn's, is that meds like Imuran or Pentasa may increase period of remission, but sooner or later it will flare again..... For me, when I have serious flare, the only way I'm back in remission is with Prednisone...

 

[Kev]

I noticed that with pred. My first foray (once they got the dosage right) it was like a miracle treatment. the next go around, even tho I started off at the same dosage that worked so well and so fast the 1st time, it was much slower to get my symptoms under control. Think our bodies aclimate to these meds over time.

 

[DarrylP_Ajax]

I am hoping that this flare wont last TOO long, as usual it comes at very crappy times, like before my solid week of midterm examinations. I may ask to go on a lower-dose run of Pred to get it under control agian, i dont want to start off at 40mg like last time because it will end up taking 3 months to get off it, i would rather start off at 20mg and go for a month and a half instead if possible....i figure since i am still on Imuran it shouldnt take as much Pred to get things back under control (or thats what i am hoping). Does anyone actually know what the max dose of Imuran is per lb/kg? I still think at 200mg/day i could be taking a little more since my liver/kidney counts never changed from pre-imuran to post-imuran and really my WBC didnt drop off too much, i think i could handle a little more of the stuff.

 

[DarrylP_Ajax]

Oh, one more thought while i am at it about my flare, its funny because about a week before i flared practically everyone i know in my school got sick with a big outbreak of, well, sickness....the health clinic on campus is usually booked for 1-2 days, when one of my friends went last week she was told they are booked for 3 weeks! Anyways, i know about 6-7 ppl who are currently on antibiotics to treat numerous things like strep, bronchial infections blah blah and i know at least 15-20 ppl in my classes who have had the flu in the last week. I dont have any non-CD sick symptoms, but would it be completely implausable that i could have possibly picked up a little of something from someone, resulting in my immune system kicking a little harder then usual?

 

[D Bergy]

I think that is certainly possible. If that is the case it should resolve itself in a short time.

Good dectective work.

Dan Bergman

 

[Sojourn]

Let us know how it works out. My GI was talking about putting me on Imuran after my resection.

 

[DarrylP_Ajax]

Let us know how it works out. My GI was talking about putting me on Imuran after my resection.

Well up until the past two weeks or so i thought Imuran was (and obviously the following statement is not to be taken literal) a miracle drug, got a whole year of remission out of it, and by remission i mean like literally no CD symptoms at all. I felt like i was back to my old pre-CD days. But this is my first ever relapse, so i am probably making this harder on myself then i should, since, as i am sure u all know, when u go into remission for the first time u get a nice sigh of relief, then wham, its back. Really sucks, but logically i am going to have to come to terms with the fact that this is most likely going to be something which happens much more then once in my lifetime.

I am really hoping this is just temporary, but i must say, the last 48 hours its REALLY started to ramp up, i had 7 BM's yesterday (6 of those in a 5 hour period) and they were full blown past the stage of the big D, something i havent experienced i over a year, along with the more then 1 BM a day...today i am already at 4 BM's and i havnet even gotten to the worst time of the day for me, which is always between 8pm-12pm, so i dont want to even think of whtas in store for tonight....last night i was back to the playing musical intestines, which sucks because i was hanging out with this girl that i really am starting to like.

She understands though because right from day 1 i explained to her my situation (however at the time i didnt have any symptoms) but now that they have come back she has been so great, she invited me over last night and we just spent like 3 hours just watching tv together on the couch cuddling (yes, sappy i know, especially when ppl usually take me for the big scary guy who is bigger then everyone). It just got my mind off of it, and i think it actually helped when i wasnt thinking about it.

So ya, that kinda went off topic from the imuran but there you go...

 

[Kev]

Yeah, Darryl.. People don't think twice about pigeonholing people based on size. It's one of the least noticed, still accepted, quite common bigotries people have.
Be yourself, the people with the problem are the people with the problem. Kids & pets don't seem to have it. Anyway, that's a bit off topic re imuran, but I kinda felt it was worth mentioning.. been there, done that, ever since I topped off at 6' 3" & 240 lbs (and that's not big and tall in my books, I had a sergent who was 6' 8" & 285 - and the meanest SOB I've ever met in life too)

As for imuran, or any of the other drugs.. And this may not be the situation with you, but my understanding is .. is that they can work for such & such a time, then they just stop working. No one seems to know why for sure. I was told by my doc that imuran could take that route (never got to there, allergy) but I understand that my remaining options (Metho or remicade) are similar. I was told that symptom repression is typically 66% in the 1st year, similar in year 2 (So if 30 people went on it, 18 or 19 would show improvement in yr 1, then in year 2, those remaining 18 or 19 would diminish to 11 or 12 doing OK).
You'd think that if a drug did it's thing, it would just go on doing it's thing, but not with this damned disease. Go figure. It's a stubborn bugger to beat. This could be just a temporary setback, keep your fingers crossed, and God bless.

 

[DarrylP_Ajax]

Better Day..

Well things last night were much better, way less BM's and grumbling intestines...this morning was day 2 of taking Pred again and as expected, even on a small dose of 15mg/day i was wired out of my mind all day, and only had one BM from when i woke up at 8am to 4pm, so i decided to get back to the gym, had a good intense workout with no feeling of a BM during my workout, came home, had my protein shake and had dinner, felt a little stomach discomfort (not really pain, just uneasy feeling) but that subsided after an hour and a green tea or two. Now its 10:00pm and i have only had 2 BM's on the day, so even the one dose of Pred seems to have helped...i am hoping to be done with it in 10 days or less before my body starts to adjust to it (thats if this flare is just a momentary fluke) I dread the thought of having to stick on it and having to watch my muscle melt away like last time i was on Pred...taking double doses of protein/BCAA;s now just to make sure no damage is done by the Pred

 

[DarrylP_Ajax]

3 days in

3 days of Pred at 15mg/day and i am back to normal, no gas, hardly any grumblings and 1 BM/day, going to taper off slowly though over the course of 2 weeks since i dont want to rush coming back off if my body hasnt fully healed back up, i shall keep it updated